Six Years
by vampeyy
Summary: A short story about the the background of Cat's brother. What happened when Cat was younger that left her traumatized and unable to leave her childhood alone?


She was just a ten year old, a kid, when her brother died. He fell from a building and was hit by a bus. Since that day, Cat was never the same. Her brother meant the world to her. He was always there for her and she admired him with all her heart, and she felt like his death was her fault. She was the one that asked him to grab something near the window that day and she was the one that scared him when he was right next to the window, causing him to fall.

Cat never stopped thinking about that day and she never wanted to make her brother a forgotten memory. Her childhood was one of the best a young child could ever hope for and her brother took up a large part of that. Instead of growing up like all of her friends did, Cat reminded a child by heart. With that childhood came a brother. She may be bubbly on the outside, on the inside Cat was dying slowly and painfully.

All of her friends, Tori, Beck, Andre, Robbie, and Jade all thought her brother was a very strange person, but they all thought he was alive too. Cat could never admit to anyone, not even herself, that her brother was dead. He was still alive in her heart, and that was how she saw him in her mind. Not that teenager in a casket being put six feet in the ground.

Cat's parents tried taking her to counseling after the death, but nothing worked. They knew that they couldn't hurt their daughter anymore than she was, so they played along with Cat. They talked like he was still there and they never touched anything in his room. Not that they needed to, Cat claimed that room at nights. She thought that it would help her be closer to him.

No one from Hollywood Art's never really saw Cat depressed and everyone assumed there was nothing wrong. If only they knew... Cat would recall past memories of her brother, how he would do wacky things to make her laugh, and sometimes even scare her.

It was Febuary 25th and everything Cat's friends knew about her were about to change. Cat was standing there with everyone else. Like always, they were crowded around Tori's locker. The only difference was that Cat was keeping her space from everyone and kept silent. If you looked into her brown eyes, you would tell they were clouded, lost in her own world.

"Cat? Cat? Are you okay?" Robbie was the first to notice and speak words to Cat. Nothing happened. He tried again and grabbed Cat's shoulder.

This time she snapped out of it. "Yes?" Her voice sounded cheerful, but behind it, there was pain. Pain and suffering. It was the anniversary. Every year she dreaded the day coming. it was the one time she had to face the cold harsh truth.

Robbie started speaking again, but Cat zoned him out and started having a flashback.

For February it was pretty warm day. Not like it was ever really cold in California. Cat and her older brother had no school that day and were forsed to go to their fathers work. He didn't trust them alone. Cat didn't blame him. It was around noon when they started playing hide and seek. There were many places to hide in the dull 'adult' building. Cat was hiding under a desk and shielded by a chair.

"Nineteen...twenty...I'm coming for you Cat!" Her brother never said 'ready or not here I come' like most people. Why would he? He liked being different. So the hunt was on. Minutes went by and Cat could hear her brother softly moving closer. He finally arrived to the desk Cat was hiding at, but nothing happened. He glided he desk and Cat tried her best not to let out a soft laugh. Not even her best attempt could conceal them.

Her brother's attention was drawn to the desk. "I got you."

Cat darted out from under the desk so fast, it almost looked like she was a cat. Not skipping a beat, Cat's brother followed her stride by stride, but never caught up to her. Cat knew he was letting her outrun him. Time past and her legs gave away from all of the running and Cat collapsed on the ground. Immediately, she was tagged on the shoulder.

"Gotcha."

Cat gave out a weak smile and and kept breathing heavily. In her normal cheery voice, she looked up to her brother and asked, "Hey, can you get my ice cream?" Cat pointed her finger over to the table next to the open window.

"Sure thing." Nothing more was said and Cat watched as her older brother took his final steps.

Quickly, Cat got up and swiftly removed a white sheet from her pink backpack covered with red hearts. She put the sheet over herself and walked over to her brother like a ninja. When Cat's brother turned around, Cat yelled "BOO!" really loud.

Her brother jumped backwards and hit the ledge of the window. However, he was too tall, and the ledge didn't stop his fall. There was a scream and Cat ripped the sheet off and ran to the ledge, matching the screams her brother made. Staring in disbelief, Cat watched as her brother hit the ground after falling four stories. To make it worse, she even saw a bus, unable to slow down, hit her brother. He didn't even have a chance.

Cat was again snapped out of her trace, but this time by Jade. "Cat!"

She shook her head and this time couldn't hide the sadness in her voice. "Whaty?" Cat shifted her position uncomfortably after seeing all the eyes staring at her.

"What's wrong Cat?" Tori spoke this time with a voice filled with worry. She moved closer to to lay a hand on Cat's shoulder. "You can tell us."

"Nothing is wrong!" Cat was being defensive again. This time, however, she didn't wait to hear what they had to say, she just stormed out of the school. Leaving the others confused and muting among each other.

Cat ran home and into her older brother's room and collapsed on the bed with a navy blue blanket on the top. She didn't even care if that she was ruining her green shirt by rubbing her eyes on it.

This was how the next few hours went until there was a knock on the door. Cat really didn't want to answer, but she did anyway. Of course, she cleaned her face off first. When she answered the door, to no surprise, it was Tori and Robbie. Oh and Rex.

"Oh cupcake!" Cat's eyes lit up when she saw the vanilla cupcake in Tori's hand.

"For you." Tori held the cupcake out and Cat squealed in enjoyment. Yep, Cat looked to be back to her normal self, but looks can be deceiving. "Now tell me what's wrong!" Without being invited in, Tori, Robbie, and Rex came in.

Cat was too busy with her cupcake to care. Robbie, being is normal self, explored the inside of the house like a stalker. He went up the stairs before Cat could stop him. "Robbie!" Not thinking, Cat rushed up the stairs, not remembering Tori. "Robbie!" She looked around for Robbie and ended up finding him in her brother's room.

Tori had arrived at the scene seconds later. Robbie looked around the room. "You know, you talk about your brother a lot but we never see him, where is he?"

"Yeah girl! Where is the psycho?" Rex rested in Robbie's arms while he talked in his normal attitude.

Softly, Cat spoke to herself. "It's been six years."

"What's that?" Tori moved closer to hear Cat. Robbie also wigged closer. "Come on Cat, tell us!"

Cat was about to speak, but then she heard a voice. "Six years Cat. You are fooling yourself. Please." She looked around but saw nothing. The voice, it had been such a long time since she heard it.

She knew what she was going to have to do, no matter how much harm it would bring her. "I have to go guys! Bye!" Cat skipped off and out of her house.

When it's dusk and you're at a graveyard, it can be very spooky. Cat stood in the gloomy area, you'd expect Jade to be at. There was a tree above the area Cat stood and a tombstone in front. She sighed and set down a small rose on the stone. When this happened, the voice came again.

"Cat." The voice came from behind. When she turned to look, a familiar face was smiling at her. Six years had past and he still looked the same, but now, she was almost the same age, in looks, as him.

"Brother!" Cat jumped up in the air and went to hug the boy, but he was just an illusion. But he was so much more real than that. "I miss you so much!"

There was a shoe in his hand, well, part of a shoe. There were bite marks were it was torn. He let out a gulp and spoke. "Six years Cat. I love you so much, but you shouldn't be killing yourself over it. You're a strong person, you know that, I know that." He paused to gnaw off a small part of the gray Nike shoe. "But Cat, stop it. You know that accident wasn't your fault, even if it was, again it's not, I wouldn't care. You mean so much to me. More than anyone else. You're my sister, and I will love you forever. Just because I'm not in your life anymore, doesn't mean you have to keep living in the past like you are. Believe it or not, I will be with you forever. In your heart."

Cat just watched in amazement. This was the most serious thing she had ever heard come from her brother's mouth. She looked down at the ground and back at the figure. She played with her long sleeves and spoke. "I do love you. But six years is a long time. I can't change who I am. But I won't fool myself anymore, I can't." A tear rolled down her face as she reached forward for another hug. This time, the actually fell someone hug back.

At the same time, the Valentine siblings said the same thing. "Good bye."

When the hug was over, the figure for Cat's older brother vanished and the sun had dipped down enough for it to be hard to see. Cat, again, whipped her eye and joyfully skipped off into the night, leaving behind the old depressed Cat. She would prance into school that next day a brand new, stronger, person.


End file.
